The key to success at becoming a remote or freelance dev is to really know your skills and confidently sell them.

Seems simple right? One of the things I felt after a few moths of fulltime self-directed study was that there was still a lot to learn and I did not have a firm grasp on what I could competently deliver. I was seeing my skills develop, just starting to see the forest through the trees, but was in a limbo stage. Like kayaking from one island to the next and you find yourself in the middle of the two. This became an increasing uncomfortable place to be.

The solution was to quickly create mock deliverables, and keep them coming. A few of these include:

Single Page HTML/CSS/JS Sites

WordPress Page Templates

Complete WordPress Custom Themes.

Database Driven Apps

The simplest deliverables are those that can be completed in a single day, I call them microprojects. The smaller the project, the shorter the lifecycle which is what you need at your beginning. The constant iteration and muscle memory helps you continually build your skills and confidence.

After building mock deliverables for a bit you start to get a handle on how long projects take to be developed. Rolling up your sleeves, getting your hands dirty, and using the important dev tools. Every day. Running into road blocks, and finding ways to get past them. Delivering builds.

So how can you confidently sell what you don’t know you can build, let alone how long it takes to build it?

Keep Building.